Video Capturing Tools

I have a sony handycam and i wish to capture the tape on my hard disk for putting it on a DVD later on. I have used Nero Vision as one toold but somehow when i capture in DVD profile (.mpg ) the audio dosent play on my DVD playet ( LG, DivX supported ) . IT however plays on the PC. So i was looking for other tools that allow capturing video. Pinnavle Studio and others are very limited in the capturing settings and allow only preset modes. I want ones that can capture and encode real time.

well I have a Samsung MiniDV, which came with Ulead Video studio, now that software does all with one click !!!!

I connent it to my Computer using IEEE 1394 Firewire interface !!!

U may try it...

*www.ulead.com

wasted 4 dvd s .
1 - improper coded , dvd player dosent recognize
2 - improper audio , dvd player dosent play , media player classic dosent play
3 - jerky motion , plays fine in PC (XviD , 25 fps ,1024 kbps )
4 - ditto same prob (i burnt at lower speed )

1 - Is your camera PAL or NTSC? And will your DVD player support both? Do you have any option to change it in the remote? Have you tried to use it? If not please post your camera model & DVD Player model no.

2. - Latest DVD Player will play upto 24bit & 48Khz. But it's better to encode the audio in 16bit @ 48Khz for universal compatibility. Media Player won't play 24 bit audio. And which codec you have used for audio compression?

3. DV is always lower field first stream. Are you sure you have specified the correct field order while encoding to DVD. And I highly recommend you to create a Top field first MPEG stream for universal DVD playback.

But if you are encoding in XVID, 1. You must deinterlace your DV footage to avoid flickering. And DV is 720x480 NTSC or 720x576 PAL with aspect ratio 4:3. DivX and XviD doesn't have any aspect ratio so you must resize the video to 640*480 or it will look stretched in a 'XVID DVD Player'.

4. Burning at lower speed doesn't provide you better quality. You need a better Encoder like Cinemacraft/TmpgEnc/procoder. As for as my experience, never use ULEAD Video Studio. What other Editing software you can able to buy?

some of the things you said went a little over my head

No problem. Try to answer the following...

1. Are you using a NTSC camera or PAL camera?
2. Which software you used to encode the video?
3. In which format you make the CD/DVD? (MPEG / MPEG-2 /Divx)

D

Can I Capture video to PC via USB from my SONY handycam's Hi8 Cassette?
Which software will I require..?
Plz reply

Can I Capture video to PC via USB from my SONY handycam's Hi8 Cassette?
Which software will I require..?

Almost all Video capturing Programs can capture video from a USB camera. But you need the USB driver, which helps the OS to identify the Camera as a capturing device.

Panasonic cameras use a software called 'Motion DV' for this purpose. But I have no idea about Sony cameras.

Did you get a CD with your camera? Search for USB Capture driver in it.

D

No, I don't have any CD..
Can someone plz tell me which USB driver will I require and where I can get that..?
Thanks for prompt reply..

PC via USB from my SONY handycam's Hi8 Cassette

Why didn't you start a new topic for this?

Ok, Do you have a USB Port in your camera? And what's the camera Model no?

D

Camera Model no. is SONY DCR TRV460E Hi8 Cassette handycam...
It has DV port.. 1 DV to USB cable is also provided..
I downloaded and installed USB drivers..
There is no option in Ulead VideoStudio 10 for capturing video from Hi8 Cassette.. though this soft. captures live video when connected via USB..
Please suggest me a good software which can capture video from my cam..
Thanks for support..specially VideoEditingIndia

What's DV Port in your world? Do you mean the firewire/iLink Port?

Man, if you have the firewire port, I highly recommend you to buy a Firewire card for Rs.300 and capture via firewire. It's 2 times better than USB 2.0

If you are not interested to buy a firewire port, You can try a Directshow capture program.

And when capturing in Ulead, which Mode your camera in? The correct camcorder mode for capturing video over DV or USB is the TAPE PLAYBACK mode. You can even try the Windows Movie maker to capture USB Video in TPB Mode.

Or you can try CaptureFlux from *paul.glagla.free.fr/captureflux_en.htm

Or you can even buy the Pinnacle MovieBox which support USB Video capture. but wait!!!

Are you sure your camera supports, USB for Video? Is your camera compatible with DirectShow?

D

Don't know..
can you plz tell me wheather this model support's USB for Video..?
I am deadly in need to Capture video onto my PC..?
Please reply.

Never used this camera! But do you know what is 'e-movies' in SONY terminology? It supports e-Movies over USB.

*www.ciao.co.uk/Sony_Handycam_DCR_TRV460E__5637131

Or you can buy a USB to S-VIdeo Adapter: *www.usbgear.com/computer_cable_details.cfm?sku=USBG-VX2&cats=125&catid=614,125

But my final advice, Buy a Firewire Card and capture using DV Port.

D

Thanks for support..finally buying a new Firewire Card..

Nice. Ask for NEC chipset. PCI-E is better than PCI.

If not available buy a stupid VIA Chipset 1394a card.

VideoEditingIndia said:
If not available buy a stupid VIA Chipset 1394a card.

Even my P5N-E SLI came with onboard VIA Chipset for 1394a !!!

Just a thought, why u want to avoid VIA ?? reliability issue ?? or any performance issue ??

Because of compatibility issues.

Some devices for ex. 'ALESIS Firewire Multimix' is not compatible with VIA chipset. It's just for future proof. If you have the onboard VIA, don't worry.

But if you are buying a new and get a chance to choose between VIA & NEC, Choose NEC.

VideoEditingIndia said:
If you have the onboard VIA,

yeah its on board, every other thing is cool, Nvidia, just the 1394a is using a damn VIA :lol:

VideoEditingIndia said:
don't worry.

Why shouldnt i, as u said it will have compatibility issues with certain devicec, then i should be worreid, as this SLI thing allowed only 2 PCI expanssion slot, so, it have to buy a another chip set later on, would be problem for me... !!!

Maverick340 said:
I have a sony handycam and i wish to capture the tape on my hard disk for putting it on a DVD later on. I have used Nero Vision as one toold but somehow when i capture in DVD profile (.mpg ) the audio dosent play on my DVD playet ( LG, DivX supported ) . IT however plays on the PC. So i was looking for other tools that allow capturing video. Pinnavle Studio and others are very limited in the capturing settings and allow only preset modes. I want ones that can capture and encode real time.

Use windows movie maker

Choto Cheeta said:
yeah its on board, every other thing is cool, Nvidia, just the 1394a is using a damn VIA

Why shouldnt i, as u said it will have compatibility issues with certain devicec, then i should be worreid, as this SLI thing allowed only 2 PCI expanssion slot, so, it have to buy a another chip set later on, would be problem for me... !!!

If you are doing Sound Mixing in your PC, yes you have to worry!!! but you can buy a seperate NEC card.

Yes, ASUS 680i motherboard has only 2 PCI slots. You can buy a GIGABYTE /DFI board, if you need 3 PCI slots. And remember GIGABYTE uses TI (Texas Instruments) based Firewire Chipset which is better than NEC.

*www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=2553&ProductName=GA-N680SLI-DQ6

*us.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_spec_details_r_us.jsp?PRODUCT_ID=5277&CATEGORY_TYPE=LP%20UT&SITE=US

A

hello!! I have a sony dcr285e handycam. Using ulead video studio I capture in dvd format at 8000kbps using ilink. Now the video is noisy and when I tried Movie Maker, its very hazy. Can anybody suggest me a way to encode the videos to a lower bitrate at around 800-1000kbps so that the quality doesn't degrade and the noise is removed.

I tried using xvid at 1500kbps but the video degrades a lot. There are square boxes visible in the video at full screen.

I have 8 cassettes to encode and it would require 6 dvds to store them. But at lower bitrate, may be I can store them in just one or two. I have to share the vids with my friends also many of whom don't have dvd drives. So a lower file size is required. Thanks in advance for any help given.

Using ulead video studio I capture in dvd format at 8000kbps using ilink

I don't understand why you need a Digital8 camera, if you are capturing your video in MPEG format.

Capture in DV format. Personally I prefer Avid / Panasonic DV Codec than Sony DV Codec. Digital8 is 25Mbps where your MPEG is 8Mbps.

Now the video is noisy

There is no way the video get noisy, if its maintained in its original bitrate till the authoring process. Try the DV Codec and confirm it again...

xvid at 1500kbps but the video degrades a lot

I don't find a better free codec other than XVID till.

There are square boxes visible in the video at full screen.

What's the resolution of the video? Have you deinterlaced your footage?